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How to develop leadership

19 January, 2016 - 17:57

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The value of leadership to tourism development

Competent, motivated leadership is vital in the planning and development of tourism as an economic force within the community. Sufficient facilities, finances, and all the other aspects necessary to produce a comprehensive, coordinated tourism program stand still unless adequate leadership can direct the human, physical, and financial resources into a comprehensive, coordinated tourism program.

However, leadership is often the least considered aspect in tourism development. The concept itself has a variety of meanings. Some people think of leadership as an innate personal attribute. Persons may become "symbolic" leaders because they are presidents of banks or the managers of motels, but they may be completely wrong for the job of leader of a tourism council. The symbolic leader has the power associated with a particular role and its expectations. The symbolic leader is powerful because people expect him to be.

Effective leadership is a learned behavioral skill which includes the ability to help others achieve their potential as team members. Strong leadership is vital and every effort should be made to recruit leaders who have already gained the respect of the citizens and are capable of efficiently using all of the available resources.

In general there are two types of individuals who obtain leadership positions: (1) those who have something to gain from the development, and (2) those who want to see the community grow and develop. Of course, one person may fit into both groups.

Leadership emergence and the organizational process

A common pattern of leadership emergence can be found in many communities. Suppose you are involved directly with the tourism and travel business, as manager of a resort. You see that tourism would increase through more publicity, better streets, or a better reservation system. You share your ideas with friends from the Chamber of Commerce or the local service club who have similar interests in increasing visitors to the community. Your friends agree to then organize a group to seek a larger support base and additional help. Visits with governmental or community committees, such as a planning and zoning committee, or the city council, might result in financial, physical, or human resources needed to accomplish your goals. This is the first phase of leadership emergence.

The initial thrust to develop tourism will likely come from one individual organization or special interest group, e.g. resort owners, hotel or motel managers, Chamber of Commerce members or an historical society. Regardless of who stimulates the development, strive for early commitment from leaders already in place within the community. The tourism industry will affect either directly or indirectly most community interests.

When your group sets out to achieve your objectives you see other things that could be accomplished to improve tourism. A group larger than the original three is needed. You might organize a subcommittee of the Chamber of Commerce on travel and tourism, a committee of the Rotary Club (a voluntary not-for-profit corporation), or an ad hoc committee on tourism, either as a part of the industrial development group in the community or as a part of the city council. This is the second phase in the organizational process.

The third phase comes when the committee realizes that some jobs can be done only by someone who shares your priorities. So you form an association and invite all people of similar interests to join. In many communities this is done through the Chamber of Commerce, particularly in those communities that have tourism as a major economic resource. Certainly many if not most of the enterprises benefiting from visitors would be members. This is the most common type of organization; other types may be directly under the city council as a part of the local government, or independent, such as the Jonesville Resort Association.

This process may be completed in any time from a few months to a number of years. The originators may now be encouraging others to take over positions of leadership, or, in the situation of phase three, official and formal elections may be held, officers elected, and committees established.

At some point the workload begins to be exceedingly heavy in distributing publicity, answering incoming mail, soliciting memberships—too heavy for a volunteer operation. Time does not permit some of the members with other job responsibilities to continue to meet all the demands of the association. Therefore, a regular office is established and a secretary is employed.

Many communities stop here. Others desire full-time tourism leadership and go on to hire a full-time executive secretary or executive director. This is the fourth phase of organizational development. It is then that the community begins to see its greatest growth, not necessarily because of the employment of a professional, but because the ground work has been completed and the relationships involved in organization and cooperation have gradually been smoothed out. With a knowledgeable and experienced person working full-time, the planning process can be implemented at increased speed.

Not all communities will even want to consider a full-time director of tourism; they may want to include these duties with those of the present Chamber of Commerce. It might do well at this point to suggest, however, the advantages of a strong tourism association with a full-time director.

While an individual operator can advertise and promote his facility through a number of means, there are some aspects of tourism development that are either too costly for an individual or that lend themselves to attracting people to an area, rather than to an individual facility. An organized approach can accomplish a number of things that could not be done individually.

Leadership, whether volunteer or hired, should be responsible at all times to a policy-making board or group. The leader should not make all the ultimate decisions.

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Figure 9.1 Chambers of Commerce help promote tourism. 
(Courtesy Jamaica Tourist Board.) 

Rather he should share suggestions, perspectives, and recommendations and implement policy, planning, and direction. Never should he be in the position of being the principal advisor to the group to which he reports. This will cause inevitable problems in the long run.

The roles that local governments and Chambers of Commerce have played in providing leadership for local tourism are almost as diverse and numerous as the cities having tourism programs. In Springfield, Illinois, USA, the local city council appointed an historic sites committee which ultimately led to an extensive tourism program. While in other communities such as the American cities: Decatur, Alabama, Boise, Idaho, and Asheville, North Carolina, the Chamber of Commerce has provided the leadership for tourism. In Asbury Park, New Jersey in the US, a corps of newly elected city officials took the lead in promoting tourism, while in Boise and Decatur newly appointed directors of the Chambers of Commerce took the leadership role. Even in those communities in which the Chamber of Commerce is not providing the major leadership for tourism, the Chamber of Commerce usually cooperates with the tourism leadership. In most communities there is a strong working relationship between local government and the Chamber of Commerce.

In summary, no one type of organization or leadership is better than another. It depends upon the tradition, the resources available, the organizational structure in the community, the strength of the Chamber of Commerce, or the confidence in the local elected officials. Many ways are used and all ways have found success in some areas.

Whichever type of organization is chosen, there are a number of leadership roles which can be identified with particular organizational structures. Leadership roles are the activities and responsibilities to be assumed by the organization providing the leadership. Some of these, by category of leadership organization, are listed here.

Leadership roles

Leadership roles—where there is either a separate tourism organization or one functioning as a part of the chamber of commerce

Gaining public support or awareness. Create community awareness and acceptance of tourism through public information activities including: news articles, editorials, and public speeches to demonstrate the positive effects of tourism to local residents.

Keep all those involved in tourism aware of current and future plans and maintain high levels of identity and motivation through the use of news letters, newspapers, radio, and television coverage to publicize the activities and achievements of those involved in tourism.

Work to promote and support local, state, and federal legislation beneficial to tourism. Maintain a harmonious relationship with local political officials and both state and national legislators.

Gain support from auxiliary facility and service providers, such as hotels, motels, restaurants and service stations.

Coordination. Develop a tourism staff having technical knowledge of tourism, the ability to relate to others effectively, and commitment to the tourism program.

Establish short and long range goals and map out plans to achieve them.

Coordinate independently managed attractions and events in tourism development and promotion.

Develop programs to measure tourist satisfaction with attractions, events and support facilities, and services such as hotels and motels, restaurants, service stations, and other businesses serving tourists.

Work to achieve a feeling of unity through the development of goals which appeal to broad community membership, particularly where local, regional, or state tourism programs may be adversely affected by sectionalism, provincialism, and jealousy. Organizational activities must include representatives from all groups.

Operational. Seek funds from local, state, and federal governments and private resources. Provide and direct visitor information centers.

Attract conventions, sporting events, cultural and other activities, by working with those in charge of local, state, and national organizations.

Research the impact of tourism on the local community.

Promotion. Prepare and coordinate all advertising and promotional pamphlets, brochures.

Prepare or direct the preparation of feature stories about local tourism for newspapers, journals, or travel magazines.

Develop close working relationships with radio, television, and newspaper media to assure thorough coverage of tourism projects, events, and attractions.

Promote local tourism through activities with professional travel associations, attendance at travel shows, working with professional travel brokers, and advertising in national travel magazines.

Leadership roles—chamber of commerce, when there is a separate tourism association

Gaining public support or awareness. Encourage Chamber members to actively participate in the development, promotion, and operation of the community's tourism program.

Develop community publicity materials which relate community economic development to the tourism industry and the success of a tourism program to overall community development including economic, social, and cultural.

Coordination. Create a committee or council to advise the tourism association and to present Chamber of Commerce interests.

Develop membership which includes representatives from the economic, political, social, historic, cultural, educational, and religious interests in the community.

Operational. Develop, if not otherwise provided for, a visitors information center.

Provide, or work with local government to provide, adequate rest areas and related facilities for visitors and tourists.

Promotion. Participate in regional and state programs to promote tourism.

Leadership roles—local government, where the tourism association is a part of chamber or separate

Operational. Provide zoning ordinances and building codes which facilitate the development of tourist attractions, protect historic structures or sites, and provide maximum assurance against alienating citizens with regard to tourism.

Implement ordinances which tend to maximize the effectiveness of advertising signs without detracting from the scenery, tradition, decor, or heritage of the community.

Establish regulations which protect important resources for local residents, for example, scarce water supplies. Provide ordinances for effective crowd control to minimize disturbances which would be distasteful to both local residents and tourists.

Develop effective parking and traffic controls to minimize congestion.

Landscape public areas to enhance the beauty and attractiveness of the community for both tourists and local residents.

Provide adequate refuse control.

Give adequate financial support to the community's tourism program, for example, pass a lodging tax for funding the local tourism association.

Provide or work with other community organizations to provide adequate rest areas and related facilities.

Imposed organization

A word about imposed organization: because tourism is many times regional or statewide in nature, and because states are sometimes willing to share some of their financial resources in the form of matching funds, some specific types of organizations may be dictated in order to qualify. In the US, for example, to qualify for state matching funds Huntington County, Pennsylvania had to develop a formal organizational structure which met the requirements of the state. A travel promotion agency had to be organized with its directors appointed by county commissioners. The directors, in turn, appointed all staff members including a full-time executive director. Thus, the operations of the tourism effort are subject to some political control.

To facilitate the restoration of New Harmony, Indiana a county trust commission was formed with an operating unit, the tourist council, to activate state support.

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Figure 9.2 Local areas can landscape tourist areas. 
(Courtesy New Zealand Tourist & Publicity Office.) 

Historic New Harmony, Inc. was founded as the operating arm of a new state memorial commission. While there had been state influence involving the leadership of the restoration project, significant state financial support was also provided.

Regional leadership in developing tourism may be imposed at the state level in the USA as in Utah or may be voluntary as in the sixteen county Alabama Mountain and Lakes area. There is no single approach to developing regional tourism. For example, in Chattanooga, Tennessee the tourism program was taken from the Chamber of Commerce and placed under a newly organized Chattanooga Area and Convention Bureau. In the coastal area of Georgia, a number of Chambers of Commerce organized the Coastal Area Planning and Development Commission to take a regional approach in developing tourism. Regional requirements then may dictate the type of local organization for tourism.

Developing leadership within the community

Now that we have a picture of how leadership emerges and the types of organizational structure that provide the vehicle for that leadership, let's look at leadership itself. Leadership begins with people creating a mental picture of what they want to do for themselves or the community, who then sell this to others to gain their support. Leadership begins to be a part of planning: resources must be obtained, goals and objectives set, work assigned, accepted, and evaluated. The type of leadership can affect success. The traditional categories of leadership, autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire, may be appropriately discussed here.

There probably is little place in the tourism development process for an autocratic leader. Shared leadership improves the quality of decisions. Those who will be affected by the ultimate decisions should be involved in the decision-making process. The question should not be who makes the decisions, but how they can be made more sensibly. This suggests more of an "operational leadership" method rather than leadership as a "status" or "symbol". Leadership, as a function within community processes, can be shared and does not have to be concentrated. People can be leaders in some situations and followers in others. Development of tourism in a community results in diverse objectives, plans, and methods of implementation. These occur at different times and places and require a variety of leadership styles, skills, and structuring. The leadership patterns, therefore, have to vary with the nature of the function.

It is not a question of who should lead the process—professionals, politicians or interested citizens—but how to group the abilities needed for the leadership function. It can be a partnership in which professional, political, and citizen roles can all be delineated.

The interaction among these various elements, each with its own perspective, provides the motive for getting things done. There should be no question as to what is most important. All participants must work together. Cooperation is not everyone doing the same thing, but doing different things together.

This positive interaction among professionals, officials, and citizens does not imply total agreement or lack of controversy. In fact, disagreements can increase understanding of situations. What is necessary is that the parties accept the legitimacy of each other's activity in attempting to influence and exercise leadership. Many things in tourism are private matters. They depend on individual or firm business decisions on investments, operation, and management and are not subject to group decisions. At the same time many things in tourism development involve public decisions and public investments.

Remember: in the public sector keep the democratic process open—public policy is involved. This does not mean that everyone must be involved in every decision. Further, there are many operations that do not require committees or extensive involvement. Some jobs can be done best by an individual or select team. People do not want to participate in everything.

In fact, when things are going well, participation decreases. But when there are difficulties, questions, and anxieties, people make an effort to get involved. The key is to keep the process open so that people can see how things are going. Be responsive to concerns, suggestions and information from citizens. The democratic process, then, whether with the public or with the tourism group, is not marked by unremitting participation. Involvement tends to be distributed at different intensities at different points in the system. It usually is intermittent. Most people simply do not want to be involved in the actual day-to-day working operations of the association, or in those matters of widespread interest. The responsibility will usually fall on a relative few. These few should make every effort to keep the lines of communication open with their constituencies.

Reconnaissance

It is important that any leader take reconnaissance of other organizations, individuals, or people in like businesses to see what they are doing before taking initial steps. A leader may automatically assume that he must create an organization to meet his goals. He should be aware, however, that communities are already organized, and no matter what ideas he has, someone else probably has had similar ideas and might be pursuing similar objectives.

Resistance

Every leader has faced resistance, whether a leader of a small informal group, or a community-wide leader with an interest in tourism development. The consideration of planning or of strategies for enlisting participation or legitimization will bring resistance—someone is sure to dispute the idea or the timing.

It is necessary to understand the source of the resistance if it is to be overcome to any degree. Strong resistance may mean discontinuing the project.

Apathy is the greatest problem to be overcome by those involved in leadership situations. Nevertheless, effective leadership must not develop a tendency to give up when a lack of interest is encountered.

To reduce resistance and enhance participation, the leader must meet others halfway; avoid taking total control of the circumstances and work out ways to get others to participate.

Citizen involvement

A successful tourism development has the support of the citizens in that community. Many people, however, feel that citizen participation complicates the planning and implementing process. This is a short-sighted philosophy. While it may be a problem, in the end it will pay off in support and other types of dividends, such as development of new supporting facilities and attractions.

Citizen participation does not substitute for having experienced, trained, specialized professionals involved. The leadership must enlist the support and blessing of those who seem untouched by the tourism development process.

Representation

Another basic tool of the good leader is to achieve adequate representation. There is usually considerable pressure to establish a representative arrangement rather quickly when plans begin to move. This is one reason why those who are to be represented in the system may not be consulted about how this is to be done. Adequate representation and shared leadership will improve the quality of decisions.

Division of labor

This is the cornerstone on which good leadership is based. For any substantial task within communities there are many things to be done, ranging from minor housekeeping to sensitive and demanding negotiations. Tourism development work takes time and the duties required to adequately support it continue, adjusting to meet new situations and stages. In any sizable effort, the work-load has to be shared. No one person or group has the time, energy, or the range of skills to do it all. A system for dividing the labor is essential.

The key to division of labor is in cooperation. Cooperation is doing different things together. The leader, then, must find practical and equitable ways to divide up the work among those willing to take part. It may seem impossible to do fairly and efficiently. Certainly it is a thankless responsibility to carry the task of assigning specific work to particular people and organizations and then following up to see if it is done when promised.

In tourism development, seldom is there any clear or formal basis on which to direct authority over others. Most of those involved are working on their own volition, voluntarily, and are not subject to commands. This even applies when a director of tourism is in place. Most of the work has to be done by persuasion and influence. If someone is assigned a job he does not like, has not the time, or feels ill-equipped to perform, he probably will not do it.

Rather than attempting to put the burden on one person or organization to separate and assign the specific jobs, it should be a group responsibility. A small group of active and concerned people should decide what needs to be done. When a job list is developed and a sequence established, the total active group can be informed. Assignments then can be made on the basis of self-selection.

When people know the range of jobs and are given some choice, they will likely pick things they can and will do. This does not assure every job will be selected or that there will not be clusters of the most-popular and least- popular jobs. Experience, however, does indicate that in a reasonably sized group there will be a diversity of interests and preferences enough to cover a great many jobs.

Some people prefer to be assigned to jobs. In the process of self-selection they are likely to let this preference be known. The existence of these persons will help in assigning every job. It is important that you exhibit confidence in the willingness and ability of people to pick jobs for themselves.

In the process of self-selection and/or delegation, it is implied that unless otherwise stated, the individual is free to do the job the way he wants and to his expectations. Many leaders have fallen from grace because they expected the individuals to do a job as a leader would have done it. Particularly in volunteer organizations, the leader must be willing to accept the effort of the individual if it is satisfactory at all. This is not a business where employees must please the boss to receive a salary. It is very difficult for the leader not to react or respond negatively when things do not meet his expectations, but it is also the quickest way to eliminate the volunteer leader or to ruin the self- selection process.

Supervision and follow-up

Once the projects have been assigned, and procedure is agreed upon, the leader must check periodically to see whether or not the work has been completed. This is a vital aspect of leadership. All of us are aware of the many projects which people agree to do and then just do not seem to find the time. Establish a deadline at the time work is selected or assigned. If it is not completed by that time, the leader must then go to the individual and ask about progress and whether the individual intends to do it. If he does, additional time may be allowed, or the work should be reassigned. The follow-up function is one of those vital parts of the leadership process which many times is forgotten or ignored, causing a breakdown in the planning process.